Empty hearts and chipped cups
by moiryn
Summary: Belle was the price. Now she lives in a castle with Rumpelstiltskin, where she takes care of everything. Even him. Their mutual interest grows day by day and a new story unfolds as their friendship and love blossom. The tale of a beauty and a beast.
1. Chapter 1

1.

War was coming. Belle had seen it come many weeks before it actually happened, however, her father had waited to ask for help when it already was too late. Her father was a proud man, and this mistake was going to cost him dearly. After all, there was only one able to help them, and everyone knew it was better to seek help from someone else. There was no one else. No one else with the power needed. The kingdom had to be saved, and there was only one person able to help.

That same person left them waiting in one of the rooms of the castle, Belle's slender figure leaning impatiently against the windowsill, arms crossed. It felt odd to wear such an extravagant dress with war coming, somehow it felt like it was suffocating her. They had to do something. She had no right to be in a pretty dress when people in their kingdom were about to be slaughtered. A knock lured Belle out of her thoughts, her blue eyes focussing on the door.

One of the guards opened the doors, surprised when he realised there was no one. The hall before them was empty, no sign of life. All of their backs were turned when they heard a giggle. No one had to turn to find out who it was, but still, everyone in the room did. Nobody liked turning their back on Rumpelstiltskin. He oozed with confidence and Belle knew why. Rumpelstiltskin was feared throughout the land, though, everyone who sought help turned to him if they really had to. Belle pursed her lips at the sight of him. What was he going to demand this time? She had heard of him, the terrible things he demanded from the people he helped. Belle knew better than to ever bargain with him, still, her father had asked for his help.

Every word leaving his mouth sounded like he thought it was all just a game, and Belle realised that's exactly what it was to him. A game. All of their lives were just a game to him. It angered her, frustrated her until she felt her heart pounding in her chest at the mere sight of him.

Being so lost in her own anger, she almost missed the part where he demanded her to come with him, in trade for the safety of their land. Was she really all that? Just a pawn in a game? That's not fair, she almost wanted to say, but her lips remained sealed. Her father had to trade the one thing he loved the most for something he loved as well, but Belle knew better than to think her father would ever trade her. A lost feeling came over her and suddenly the uncomfortable feeling came running back to her. Who was she, really? Just a girl. There were so many people about to die, just so she could have her freedom? Who was she to demand her father's people to die for her?

No one was going to die for her. No one but her decided her own fate, and Belle stepped up to Rumpelstiltskin, her heart still beating as if it was about to jump out of her chest.

_''I'll go with you.'' _she spoke, her fingers trembling, her voice strong. She could do this.

For her father. For the kingdom.

The place was filthy, was all Belle could think the moment they arrived. Had he really brought her along to be a bloody maid? He should've just taken everyone in the castle if his goal was to get the place clean. She couldn't help but glance behind her the moment she had walked into the castle, to see if her footsteps were visible in the layer of dust. Her thoughts went back to her home, former home. Everyone was safe now, right? It had been her main goal, to keep everyone safe, but now the possibilities for her were endless. If he was ever going to leave her out of the castle, that was. And if she ever got the place fully clean before a new layer of dust settled on the unused furniture. She could hardly believe he lived in this place, all by himself.

Her eyes curiously travelled over the walls, all decorated with things she could hardly place. He seemed to have quite the collection of fine china, and she wondered who would ever visit him. Who even wanted to? Belle was not quite sure of her feelings towards him. He did save her father's kingdom, but he also took away what her father loved the most. A good part of her was afraid of him, the things he could do were not natural and Belle was frightened of him. He couldn't be the slightest bit sane, or even human. Another part of her was curious, she had never met anyone quite like him and even though she was frightened, her curiosity was going to get the better of her, she was sure of that.

''Where are you taking me?'' Belle dared to ask as she held up the skirt of her golden dress so it wouldn't graze the dusty floors.

She damned herself for sounding scared, even though she was. Belle did not know what he was capable of, but she was sure he could make her evaporate with just a blink of his unnatural coloured eyes. He barely turned to her, but did answer. Apparently she was getting her own room and Belle almost sighed from relief. She was not sleeping in a dungeon as she had expected.

Belle followed him. Her eyes widened the moment the door opened and revealed her so called room. ''My room?'' she exclaimed, annoyed with herself and with him.

Annoyed with herself for believing him, annoyed with him because he obviously enjoyed the situation. He roughly pushed her inside, and Belle's hands thumped on the door, over and over again.

''Let me out!''

It was obvious that her crying for help was not going to help, so after a few more tries Belle tried to relax and slowly slumped down to sit on the filthy floor. Was he going to hurt her? Was that really why he had brought her down here? Fear overcame her and she wrapped her arms around herself, as if it would protect her from anything. Her fingers trembled so she intertwined them to keep them from shaking. Some parts of the stone walls were covered in a layer of moss and Belle wrinkled her nose at the sight of it. The rays of the sun barely came through the small windows, a thick layer of filth and dust preventing the sun from coming in. Mere minutes ago, she had been slightly excited, she had been in a new environment where she was ought to clean. The cleaning part wasn't the part that excited her, but she had always been fond of seeing how other people lived. The tour she had gotten, the way from the entrance to her own little dungeon, had been

brief but she had seen countless of things she wanted to inspect thoroughly.

Curiosity was always going to get the better of her and she had learnt at an early age to embrace it. A soft sigh escaped her full, red lips and Belle closed her eyes. If she could just fall asleep, every thing would be better.


	2. Chapter 2

She was awoken by the sound of singing birds right outside of her window, a small smile curled around her lips. Belle had always loved animals, especially birds. They always seemed to be drawn to her. Every inch of her body was sore from leaning against the cold stone walls and she tried stretching, but quickly stopped when the ache worsened. Her fingers travelled from her sore neck to her thick, brown hair, which had became quite the mess while she was sleeping.

The door opened with a creak and a gasp left her lips from the sudden sound, but she quickly closed her mouth. She was not going to show him she was afraid. He leant against the doorframe, a smug smile on his thin lips. His arms were crossed and his eyes, the eyes Belle found difficult to meet, were fixated on her.

Slowly, Belle raised her eyebrow at him, questioning what he was up to.

''Oh, dearie, you're not exactly cheerful today now, are you?'' he said, obviously amused with himself.

Pursing her lips, Belle stood up and crossed her arms as well, even though she was scared.

''Maybe I've gotten it wrong, but I thought you forced me into this – this dungeon thing of yours.'' She said, making a gesture with one of her hands, as if showing him the room for the very first time.

Somehow her anger just seemed to amuse him, which angered her even more. He had put her in a bloody dungeon like she was some kind of prisoner. Was she his prisoner, had that been his goal all along? The question lingered on the tip of her tongue, but she was afraid that if any more words left her lips, they would come out shakily. Belle would rather seem angry to him than upset, or hurt. She'd rather have him not see her at all.

Still, her anger subsided when they had arrived in the main room and he started speaking about the many pieces of art in the room. There was so much too see and with every glance across the room, Belle's eyes met something new and shiny. It was so interesting she almost forgot she was upset. However, she did not forget completely. A part of her still wanted to accidentally break something while dusting, but she knew she could never bring herself to do that.

It was probably the first sign of humanity she had ever seen in him. The way he spoke of the decorations, in a light, breezy tone as if he didn't care at all, which just made her think he did care. A lot. It was the way he touched them, as well. They were delicate, and he was fully aware of that. Belle wanted to know the story behind every last one, and she hoped that one day, she would. Get to know the pieces of art, to get to know the person that imprisoned her. He strode across the room, to gracefully take place on a chair, resting his elbows on the armrests.

''Well, get to work, princess.'' he ordered.

The tone of his voice was cold, bored even. He didn't really care about her, not even about her existence. Somehow that was soothing to her. Her existence was irrelevant to him. She wasn't in any way important to him, and Belle made a mental note to keep it like that. At first, Belle had been tempted to just sit down on the chair opposite of his, and shoot a cannon fire of questions at him. She had never been one for cleaning her own rooms, but it would give her a chance to snoop.

She should have given up long, long ago. Dust seemed to have settled on everything and Belle just kept sneezing. Sometimes she could Rumple mutter something to himself, sometimes she would hear his high pitched laugh. He seemed to find amusement in everything. All he seemed to do was wander around his own castle, muttering and whispering against his vases and figurines. Not that she really was paying attention.

Her fingers touched every figurine they came in contact with, and soon Belle found herself wondering about their stories. Where had he gotten them? Had he travelled? Belle always wanted to travel and she felt a pang of jealousy at the thought he had travelled to where she had never been. Even now, when she thought she was going to save the kingdom and make a new life for herself, she was caught. There was no way he was ever going to let her go, Belle realised as her blue eyes scanned the crowded room. He needed her. Maybe not for the cleaning, but she was still part of the deal. And Rumple never broke a deal.

It didn't take long for her curiosity to overwhelm her completely, and within days she was standing next to him, leaning against the table he was sitting at. As always, he carried an amused expression on his face, like he had expected this to happen. Like he already knew every little detail about life itself.

He had not been rude towards her during those days, he mostly kept to himself and once in a while Belle would try to start a conversation. Their conversations never lasted long, right before it all started to feel like a normal conversation, he would randomly cut it off and Belle would be left by herself to clean some more. She hadn't dared to ask anything about the decorative ornaments all over the place, but she couldn't keep her curiosity in anymore.

Belle was standing at his side, slightly nervous, but overall, very excited. There was a part of her completely sure he was going to tell her everything she wanted to know about the paintings, figurines and vases. Another part of her wasn't as sure. He could tell her to get back to cleaning just as easily. It wouldn't exactly surprise her.

She could not keep still. Not when his unnatural eyes were glued to her, basically daring her to speak. After a few breaths, pretending to rest for a few seconds after all of the cleaning she had done already, Belle turned to him with a shy smile on her red lips.

''You know, you've got quite the collection here.'' she said, nodding.

He looked up to Belle, the left corner of his mouth raising into a grin. It was exactly what he had expected. He had seen Belle inspect every little thing he owned and somehow it hadn't really bothered him. It hadn't taken him long to figure out she never got outside of her little castle, therefore he found her curiosity normal, healthy even.

''Oh, do I?'' he started, ''I hope they didn't make cleaning the place harder for you.''

Of course he didn't care about that, Belle thought. She had to admit he was not discouraging her, he hadn't exactly told her to bugger off and continue dusting. The expression on his face said enough; he was rather aware of his collection, and the daring tone in his voice, compared with the little grin plastered on his face, made Belle's cheeks redden. Was she crossing a line there? Was she supposed to just play the maid until he got bored with her? That wasn't what she wanted. If she was going to stay there, forever, she needed company. Human contact. Long conversations about books. To know she wasn't all by herself, because that was exactly what feared the brunette the most. The feeling of loneliness.

''I just wonder how you got all of them.'' Belle mumbled, still she had not gotten over how intimidating he was.

Leaning back into his chair, almost if he was interested in what Belle had said, he rested his chin in the palm of his hand. The grin on his face had not wavered and it made the girl nervous. A few moments of silence and he cleared his throat.

''They're just decorations, don't bother with them. See, this is just a cup. You needn't know the story behind it. It has no story.'' he said, lifting the white china cup he was drinking tea out of, in the air for her to see.

Belle repressed the urge to sigh and then she slowly crossed her arms. She should have known, but the hope inside of her had given her these illusions that he was going to tell her stories of lands far away. She remained quiet, merely glancing around the room, an unamused expression on her beautiful face.

Rumpelstiltskin had to admit; he was intrigued by her. Not by her obvious beauty, but her hunger for knowledge. It had been a few days since he had brought her here, and not once had she openly complained. Apart from seeing her former room. He felt like he had made the right choice. She was the price to be paid for a land's freedom. Belle saw through a lot of things, he realised. She had known that he wasn't telling her the truth about the cup, or any of the other decorations. But it wasn't time yet. It was too early. Still, she had not pressed the issue, trying to get her way. Was she that smart that she had already figured out that pressuring him was not the way to get what she wanted? They had barely spoken but still Rumpelstiltskin found himself intrigued, interested.

She was not quite like the others.


	3. Chapter 3

It was only by accident that Belle discovered her new heaven. Apparently, there were several rooms that she had not yet found. Instead of making a left turn after leaving the main room, curiosity took over her and she settled for turning right. That part of the castle was obviously much older than the rest, cracked an torn faded wallpaper covering the walls, and Belle wondered if something had happened that they had to restore the other half of the castle. Maybe a fire? There weren't any signs of a fire, destroying everything in its way.

Her footsteps echoed, telling everything and everyone that there was someone coming. The candle lit just enough for her to see where she was going, a golden light coming from the candle so she could see her feet in the blue flats she wore every single day. She was quite sure that there was no one else but her and Rumpelstiltskin in the castle, apart from all his treasures, right now, she was alone.

He had left this early morning, but she didn't know where he was going. Whether he was returning or not. It had been days since she last spoke to him and he seemed to be more distant every single day and not even courageous Belle had had the nerve to strike up a conversation. It didn't exactly work with her own mood, feeling worse every single day without uttering a word. So, walking into a library by accident, was exactly what she needed.

Even the thick layers of dust, indicating that it hadn't been entered for a long, long time couldn't keep the smile off her face. Books. Exactly what she needed. It had surprised her, to see ornaments and paintings from different countries all around the castle, but there had never been any books. Books for her to forget her daily life, books to lose herself in the beautifully written words, to become someone else for just a few hours until the story was over and she was thrown back into reality. It didn't mean that she did not like her new life, she just yearned for human contact and since the only other person in the castle was obviously avoiding her, her mood had been rather down lately.

She settled on the floor after spending minutes trying to pick out a few books, not caring about the dust on her blue dress. The excitement coursing through her body was enough to make her fingers tremble slightly as she opened the first book. All of the books were old, some even seemed ancient. Staring at the very first page, a yellowish coloured page, giving away the book's age, Belle took a deep breath. There was something special about opening book's for the first time, as if she was opening the wardrobe to Narnia, getting her first present on her birthday, her first kiss..

Belle lost herself in the books for a couple of hours, moved by the beautiful words inside them and for a while, she couldn't feel anything but pure glee. Her cheeks were flushed, a smile seemed plastered permanently on her full lips. This was her new favourite spot of the castle, she knew that for sure. Did he even know how valuable all of these books were? The knowledge inside of them, the fictional stories breaking and mending her heart over and over again.

The next day, it seemed like Belle had never been anything but perfectly content with her life. The smile hadn't faded overnight and she was slightly surprised to see Rumple already sitting at the table as she walked in with her own breakfast. The scent of freshly baked croissants and orange juice lingered in her nose, her hunger growing with each passing second. Setting the tray softly, afraid to bother him, Belle sat down on one of the chairs. He looked up. He actually looked up and acknowledged her existence!

She was not being ignored. Not anymore.

''Hello,'' she offered shyly, unsure of his intentions.

He smiled. He did. After days without uttering a single word, a simple smile was enough for Belle to make her happy for days. With a smile she tore a piece of croissant off and took a quick bite, chewing quickly so she could try and speak to him.

''Where did you go?'' Belle asked, unable to hide her curiosity.

His eyes seemed to twinkle, very amused with her curiosity. It hadn't taken him long to figure out she was one of the curious ones, never satisfied with the amount of information and details he would give. Not that he ever gave a lot of details. Or information, for that matter.

''I had some errands to run. Places to go, kingdoms to save. Children to skin.'' he said, a quick smile offered once again before crossing his arms and resting his muddy boots on the table. The table she had just cleaned before going to bed the day before, but Belle was too glad he was back that she didn't bother commenting on it.

He wasn't going to fool her with that again. The last time he had said it, she had accidentally dropped a cup, spilling tea all over the expensive looking rug. Now, instead of being scared, she couldn't help the smile appearing on her lips once again. Belle could tell she was growing on him, the first couple days he could barely stand her breathing in the same room, now he was joking around with her. Apparently she was not going to be that lonely after all.


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you for the reviews and everything you guys are awesome. Here's a short chapter, but it's finally here. Please read & review if you can :3

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><p>Her name was Daisy. The cell was her home. She recited the little things she knew over and over again. Sitting in a corner of the cell, her long, tangled brown hair hiding her face from the world, she didn't seem like she posed much of a threat. She wished she knew why she was in here. Had she done something? All she knew was her name.<p>

Daisy. Like a flower. She had spent days practising it, but it still felt unfamiliar on her full lips. Who had told her her name? Everything was fading. Had there even been anyone to tell her her name? It was all she ever did. Think. Think of the reasons she was in here, trying tor recall earlier events but getting frustrated when all it gave her was a headache. Nothing. However, she kept doing it. She had already concluded there must have been something wrong with her, otherwise she wouldn't be in the cell, would she? Was it the way she spoke to herself, telling herself the stories she saw and lived in her dreams?

Her dreams kept her alive, since they were more beautiful than reality. Daisy dreamt of herself, wearing pretty gowns in a large castle. Even though she seemed lonely there, the feelings she got in the castle were never anything negative. Never a hint of lonely, only fast blurs of worry, but never for herself. There must have been someone else in the immense castle, accompanying her. Keeping her from feeling lonely. Was it a pet, or someone else just like her? Her dreams never showed her, all they showed here was herself, in a happier place. Herself with hopes and dreams.

A sound lured her out of her deep thoughts and Daisy looked to the far left, where the door was, through her hair. It opened only for a moment and she could make out a hand with a plate. Her meal. At least she was getting fed. When the door closed again, she got up, stretching her aching legs. Today things were different. There were no slices of bread on the plate, just a pill. Another pill. With a smile that never reached her blue eyes, Daisy placed the pill in the palm of her hand. They were mad if they thought she was going to take it. Slipping the pill in the pocket of the hospital gown they made her wear – something about keeping herself safe – she retreated and sat down once again. Day by day the pocket in her gown felt heavier, thanks to the pills. No one ever checked to see if she took them, only when the mayor came by.

She wasn't sure why the mayor was so taken with her. After all, she was apparently just another mentally ill person. The mayor always made her caretakers check her. Of course, Daisy was smarter than them. She was in this room every single day, never seeing a ray of sunshine, of course she knew every little thing of the room by heart. The stone walls were old and somehow she had discovered a loose brick and now she used it to hide all of the pills whenever she needed to. The weight of the pills was oddly soothing, reminding her that she still had a choice. Slip away forever, overdosing, or taking one and forgetting every single thing.

''Pretty smart for someone insane,'' she said, her throat immediately aching.

Daisy didn't speak to anyone else but herself. She wasn't even sure if she could trust herself, why to speak to others? They were the ones who put her in there, they never let her outside. Above all, it was the mayor that made her nervous for real. If it wasn't that cold smile, it would be the dark eyes, promising her eternal misery.

Daisy decided not to wait for her real meal to come and made herself as comfortable as possible against the brick wall, trying to force herself into oblivion. She had succeeded before. Now, however, sleep wouldn't come to her. No wonder, she had only woken up mere minutes before. A sigh escaped her lips and Daisy rested her head against the wall, looking up to the ceiling.

Dusty. Everything was dusty. Even her daily baths didn't help with that issue. It had been ages since she last cried, but now she felt the tears behind her eyes. Quickly she batted her eyelashes, trying to get them away. There was no reason to cry. She was in here for a reason, she must have done something terrible she couldn't remember. If only she knew what.


End file.
